As crisis deepens, Venezuelans face few options

After a recent failed military and civilian uprising and violent protests against the Maduro regime, ordinary Venezuelans still see no end to the crisis. The FT's Gideon Long reports from Caracas

Life in Caracas goes on, wearily for now. After a recent failed military and civilian uprising, and violent protests against the Maduro regime, ordinary Venezuelans still see no end to the crisis.

The apparent lull in the power struggle between the opposition and Maduro has not alleviated chronic shortages of food and basic medical supplies. The opposition, led by Juan Guaidó and backed by the US, failed to turn out large crowds at a series of recent demonstrations.

For most Venezuelan families daily life is punctuated by electricity and water shortages. Those who can have already left. An estimated 3 and 1/2 million have fled. Many of them to neighbouring Colombia and Brazil.

The Melendez family live in Petare, a low-income neighbourhood overlooking the capital. They share a damp, two-room home, with no running water. They survive thanks to remittances from a relative living in the Dominican Republic. Meina Amato is 40, and occasionally works as a cleaner.

Her 19-year-old cousin, Antonio Melendez, is unemployed. He's been thinking of emigrating, but is struggling to raise enough money to make the dangerous journey.

As the economy unravels, families unravel too. Stay or leave. Either way, it's a bleak choice.